Suki stood frozen in place, slightly shaking. Did she really...see that? Was that real?

No, no. It was that light playing tricks on her. There was no way that girl was her...no way.

She felt a hand on her shoulder turn her around. It was Kimi.

"Yo, Suk. You okay? You look like you saw a ghost..." Kimi asked.

Suki was still visibly shocked about what she saw, or if it was even real or not. Should she tell her? Did she even see?

"Suki, what's up? Are you sick? Do you need to go home?"

The young wild card shook her head, snapping out of her daze. "N-no, I'm totally fine! Just...these lights! Stuff like this isn't really my sort of thing, so I'm not used to the bright colors."

"Are you sure you don't want me to take you back to the car?"

She shook her head. "No, no! I'm okay. I should be fine for the rest of the concert."

Kimi gave her a strange look before taking her hand and relenting. "Okay. I believe you. Now let's go have some fun!"

Suki forced a smile as Kimi pulled her away and to the concert, which was already very lively. There was Haruko on stage with the band, hamming it up. Her friends were actually smiling and having a good time, yet she was still in distress.

She just couldn't let it go. That girl, looked exactly like her. That girl was her. It had to be. It couldn't be just some weird coincidence. Or, maybe it was the lights messing with her. This was a concert, there were a lot of girls with really weird hair colors here-Heck, even Haruko-San had a crazy hairdo.

She just had to forget about it. She just had to forget about it.

But she couldn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pain in his chest was getting worse. It couldn't be his heart, no. He was sixteen years old, almost in perfect health. He couldn't be having some kind of heart failure, right?

No. No, it was his lungs. Lately, it had been getting harder and harder to breathe. Harder and harder to do everyday things without running out of breath.

Should he tell her? No, not now. They don't have money to pay for treatments. He couldn't do that to her. Couldn't put her in debt once again.

Damn, what a crappy son he was.

He just had to tough it out. Maybe he could go to some walk in clinic. That's a lot cheaper than going to a hospital. He needed to get help before it got any worse.

Breathe...just breathe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"HEY! ARE YOUR EARS RINGING TOO?!"

"You don't have to yell! I can hear you just fine!"

"WHAT?!"

The concert was over and everyone was pretty much deaf. Kimi was practically yelling everything, annoying the crap out of Jumin to the point where he was pretty sure she was faking it.

Isas was walking alongside Suki back to the car, noticing how quiet she was. "Suki-San, I don't mean to impose, but are you okay? You didn't seem so enthusiastic during the concert, and now you're very quiet."

Suki waved it off. "I-it's nothing, Isas. Concerts...aren't really my thing."

Isas nodded, trying to let it go, but he soon found himself stepping in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.

"Isas...?"

"I-I'm sorry to press but...you have been acting very...strange. First, there was what happened in the house of mirrors in Anzu's circus, then it was the incident on your birthday-"

"How do you know about that?" She asked, taking a defensive stance.

Isas stepped back, thinking of what to say next. "I...Kimi was behind the door...she was waiting to surprise you but..."

He trailed off as Suki's face turned to shock. "Oh my god..."

"P-please, I shouldn't have overstepped. I was just worried about you, you didn't seem like-"

Suki got up in Isas' face, angered by his words. "You don't get to decided what I feel!" She snapped.

"I was-"

"Hey! Are you guys okay?" Jumin called, stopping along with everyone else.

She suddenly realized the position she was in. She was grabbing Isas' shirt, tugging him close, and in his scared eyes, she could see her anger. She quickly let go of him, running her fingers through her hair.

"W-we're fine..." Isas said, his voice shaky. He was smiling, trying to cover the spat that just happened. "Just...joking around and, of course, I didn't get it. But it's fine. It was just...me."

He glanced over at Suki, his eyes telling her to go along with it. She reluctantly nodded, but the others were already suspicious of her. The two walked back to the car, but Suki felt something...off. Like the bond between her and Isas, was becoming strained.

I need to talk to Igor about this...maybe he'll know what's going on...but...I may already know...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suki awoke in the Velvet Room, Lazuil looming over her. His expression told her that he knew something was off with her.

"Greetings, Wild Card. It's been awhile..." He said, his tone solemn.

"Lazuil, is everything okay?" She asked, sitting up.

"There is something...but, Master would like to personally talk to you about it."

Suki nodded, finally being able to stand up on her own and walk. By how quiet Lazuil was, it was quite obvious that what Igor wanted to talk about was quite serious.

The doors opened and there was Igor, the same grin plastered on his face.

"Welcome back. It 'seems' you can stand on your own two feet again. And you've successfully saved another ally from the disease that plagues your world. However...your development is less than fantastic. While you built a bond with your new friend, you have also damaged another."

"Th-that's what I wanted to talk to you about...how do I fix it? I don't want this tension between Isas and I."

Igor tapped the table. "That, my dear guest, is something you must figure out on your own. I cannot help you there."

Suki was distraught. How could fix it? She basically threatened her friend in front of the others, what could she do?

"But, as I promised to Lazuil, I will grant both of you access to the first door. " He pulled out a set of seven keys, handing them over to Lazuil, whose mood significantly got better once he grabbed them. "It's not dangerous. You don't have much time, however. Since you have not developed as quickly as we expect, you can only spend a limited amount of time in this world, so make it count."

They both nodded in understanding. Lazuil pulled Suki along like a child with their friend on the schoolyard to the first door, fumbling with the keys in excitement.

"I-I'm not completely sure you will like this, but I promise you're not wasting your time! This is very, very important!"

Suki chuckled. "Okay, okay! Just open the door and show me."

Lazuil nodded, finally getting the door open and revealing a large, almost empty room that was covered wall to wall of paintings.

"I like to call this room...the Gift of Memories. It is each precious moment-joyous and sorrowful- shared by each and every Wild Card there ever was."

Suki stared in awe. The paintings on the wall were beautiful. They were so really...like she was actually in the moment. Right there, watching the fireworks, standing on the edge of the world with such pride and accomplishment.

"These were made specifically for the special moments that stay in their hearts. Quite touching, don't you think?"

Suki nodded, her gaze flying over to the large empty spot on the wall near the door. "Is that...that my spot?"

He nodded, smiling gingerly. "Yes. It takes time, but soon, the memories you hold dear with soon appear on this wall for the future generations of Wild Cards..."

She grinned, excitedly. Her own wall of Memories. Awesome!

She turned to the left, where she caught a glimpse of very familiar faces.

"That's Mr. Narukami! And Mrs. Eko! And-And baby Jumin! Awww! He's so cute!"

Lazuil chuckled. "Master and I thought you might get excited over that portrait..."

Suki smiled. "Well duh! Babies are adorable!"

Lazuil shook his head, still smiling. Suki looked to the far left and saw a strange blue haired boy beside a strange blonde haired girl with blue eyes.

"Is he another Wild Card?" She asked, pointing in the direction of the painting.

Lazuil turned, his smile suddenly dropping. "A-ah, yes. Those two were Wild Cards as well..."

"What happened to them? Are they nearby?"

Lazuil fell quiet for a long time before he took Suki's hand and pulled her in the opposite direction. "N-no. Not..that I know of. Come, we have to get going. Our time is almost up."

She hesitantly nodded and followed him out and back to the room.

"Hey, Lazuil. How long is it until I can stay in the Velvet Room for as long as I want?"

"Well, that's a problem we're currently facing. Your progress is quite troubling. If you were on the path that most Wild Cards are on at this point, you should be able to see the doors."

"The doors?"

"

"Personas? I only have my Hegemone...."

Lazuil stopped, whipping around, puzzled. "What?"

"I haven't gained any other personas."

Lazuil was utterly shocked, muttering things under his breath.

"Lazuil-?"

"It's nothing! I need to go. You know your way back, right?"

Suki nodded. Lazuil didn't even wait for a response and quickly walked away, no goodbye or anything.

There was something he wasn't telling her. Something very important.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kimi had called up the Jumin and Isas after the show to discuss Suki's strange behavior. They were all in agreement that it was kinda shitty that they were basically talking behind Suki's back. But they were worried and wanted to come up with ways to help her. Or, at least Kimi did. Jumin was half asleep, and Isas was too lost in his own thoughts to listen to anything coming out of Kimi's mouth.

"Come on, guys! I can't be the only one coming up with things to do about Suki." Kimi whined.

"Kimchi, it's almost midnight. We're tired. We can talk about this later." Jumin mumbled, his face buried in his pillows.

"Ugh! Hopeless! What about you, Isas-kun?"

"...."

"Isas?"

"I don't like this... We shouldn't be doing this. We shouldn't be talking behind Suki's back. She is our leader-our friend."

"That's why we need to help her! I know that the little 'conversation' you had wasn't just that."

"Kiyoshi-chan, please. Leave it alone. It's none of our business. It's none of our concern. This is Ichika-San's problem. She can handle it herself."

Kimi was quiet for a very long time before she let out a long sigh. "Yeah...yeah, you're right. You're...always right. I'll, uh, talk to you guys tomorrow, okay?"

"G'night." Jumin murmured.

They both sighed off the call. Isas sat at his desk, the events of that night still lingering in his head. It wasn't his business. He should not get involved. He needs to let Suki handle this on her own.

The door to his bedroom opened but instead of his younger sister coming because of a nightmare, but it was Yasahiro, his eyes glowing a bright toxic green, his expression full of worry.

"I-Isas....I'm sick..." He mumbled.

Isas stood up as Yasahiro fell into his arms. "Yasahiro-kun, what's going on..?"

"The people....at the concert...they're all sick...they made me sick..."

"What..?"

"They...they all had it...the virus, they had it. They all have it....I...I can't take it..."

Isas pulled Yasahiro towards his bed, laying him down. He had no idea how to handle this. Yasahiro wasn't completely human, he most likely didn't have a human immune system. But he had to try. He placed the back of his hand on and around his face. He was warm.

"You have a fever...maybe...I can try some ibuprofen...maybe some other medications but I'm not so sure they will work on you."

Yasahiro nodded in understanding. Isas quickly ran out of the room and downstairs.

'It'll be okay...It'll be okay...Isas said it would be okay...'

A burning, itching feeling ran up his arm. He pulled up his sleeve, thorny vines triggering a blistering rash. His heart practically stopped.

"Oh gods....w-what....what's happening to me?!"